TECH NEWS
TECH NEWS
Akai MPC Element
Hercules DJ Control Air+ controller
words: ALEX BLANCO
words: LUKE PEPPER
VERDICT
BUILD QUALITY
EASE OF USE
FEATURES
VALUE FOR MONEY
SOUND QUALITY
9.0
9.0
9.0
9.0
N/A
HYPE
Beautiful to look at, a joy to
touch, and inspirational to use.
GRIPE
No LED feedback in
MIDI-controller mode.
The most portable and
affordable entry into the
MPC-range works just as well
on the road as it does in the
studio.
VERDICT
9.0/10
CONTACT
akaipro.com
TALKING ABOUT A REVOLUTION
Akai’s MPC Element may be small, but it can still kick off a new world revolution
I
n production history there are few product lines
that are as revered as the MPC. Akai’s Music
Production Centre range of sampling drum
sequencers began in 1988 with the Roger Linndesigned MPC 60, and since then has been
immeasurably influential on just about all of the
electronic music genres we listen to today.
The intervening quarter-century has seen numerous
successors and revisions and, more recently, some
hybrid hardware/software combinations, namely the
MPC Renaissance and MPC Studio which allow
computer-based editing, programming and mixing
but which offer MPC-styled hardware. Those latter two
have met with near-universal praise, and deservedly
so, but they are not what you would call portable.
Enter MPC Element, a combined all-in-one USBpowered MIDI-controller and music production
software package. Let’s start with the hardware.
The MPC Element comes in about the size and weight
of the original iPad and even has a flip-lid similar to
the type you can get for Apple’s prestige device.
Opening the lid instantly offers the user 16 drumpads. These offer a sexy black tone with back-lighting
around the edges that change colour the harder the
pads are hit. These pads really are unbelievably nice
for something at this price range, putting all of the
competition in this market place (and much above)
utterly to shame.
The other controls are fairly basic, which is
understandable given the size. Obviously there are
transport and record controls, the famous Note
Repeat button for beat building and rolls (when held
down, any pad will play continuously at the selected
quantise value), undo and erase buttons, a Full Level
control (when engaged, all pads trigger at the hardest
0108djmag.com.au
level irrespective of how hard they are hit), Mute- and
Solo-Track buttons (more on these later) and buttons
to scroll through the different banks of samples — up
to eight can be loaded at a time.
Other than a few small things that would have been
nice to include, like quantise value buttons, it’s hard
to fault the design and the build quality of the MPC
Element — which seems magnificent. Also, while
there’s no onboard audio interface, there are minijack to five-pin MIDI connectors for incorporating
other MIDI hardware into the MPC set-up.
When it comes to the software that drives the MPC
Element, it can run as either a standalone application
or as a AU/VST/RTA plug-in, and like the original MPCs
it allows producers to construct everything from basic
loops to full track ̰